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Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Early Modern History)

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Many people are aware of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but not many are aware of the trans-Mediterranean slave trade, in which Christians and Muslims took each other as slaves. By far, the most successful of these slavers were the Barbary corsairs, who probably succeeded in capturing at least one million Christian Europeans from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth. In this fascinating book, author and historian Robert C. Davis, Profess of History at Ohio State University, looks at these Muslim slavers, at who and how many slaves were taken, at how they were used after capture, and the effect this slave-taking had (primarily in Italy).

I found this to be an absolutely fascinating book on a little known subject. When reading a biography of Jeffrey Hudson, Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-69) of England's favorite dwarf ("Lord Minimus" by Nick Page), I was surprised to find out that he was captured by Barbary corsairs, while crossing from France to England(!), and spent years as a slave in North Africa. This was far from an isolated event. Indeed, far-off Iceland was subject to corsair slave-raiding.

Now, as the author fully admits, unlike with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the North African slavers did not produce much in the way of documents from which to draw numbers of slaves taken and so forth. As such, Professor Davis did need to draw his conclusions based on limited information, but I did find his conclusions to be well reasoned and quite convincing. Also, he was at pains to point out that these slaving activities went on in both directions, and that it was not a purely Muslim activity.

So, are you interested in reading about a fascinating, and yet little known facet of European and Middle Eastern history? If so, then I highly recommend this book to you. It has a great deal to say, and is already sparking debate across the world. Buy this book!

Mass slavery in the popular imagination had always been associated with the capture and subsequent enslavement of Africans. With good reason. The sheer scale of the African slave trade stretched the limits of imagination. Enslaved Africans were ubiquitous from Brazil to the Carribbean to the plantations in the Southern United States. Slavery undergirded economies, dehumanized victims and victimizers alike and generated profits for those who benefited from this egregious institution. In the Western world, especially the United States, the history of slavery bares a black face. There is no denying the suffering of Africans in bondage. Robert C. Davis, author of Chritian Slaves, Muslim Masters,however, presents us with another picture of bondage, one no less brutal, repressive and disheartening. This bondage was experienced by Europeans at the hands of North African Muslims. Between 1500 and 1800, dates in the subtitle, corsairs sanctioned by the North African govenments of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morrocco attacked European ships in the Medditeranean and raided European shores. These plundering expeditions netted hundreds of thousands of captives. As many as a million and a quarter Europeans, according to the author, were enslaved by North Africans. A small figure compared to the estimated twelve million Africans carried off to the new world over a span of centuries, but not an inconsiderable one by itself. The author channels a prodigious research effort into a detailed anaylsis of slave life, how they were captured, their national origins, the types of labor they were consigned to and their physical and mental states. Muslims raids reached as far afield as Iceland, but the proximity of Italy to the North African coast made it a convenient and frequent target for Muslim slaving activities. For that reson, the author devotes a considerable amount of space to how Italians coped with constant raids along their shores. The parallels the reader can draw between European and African slavery during this period are undeniable. Captured human beings in both cases came from all walks of life. Their traumatic experience of capture was compounded by the humiliation of being displayed to prospective buyers like merchandise. As there was no plantation system in North Africa, Europeans did not toil in the midst of sugar canes or cotton fields. Many, however, were put to work in galleys, others hauling rocks at construction sites, working in mines or cutting timber. Whatever their labor, Davis decribes horrendous conditions to which European slaves were subjected; disease, unabated hunger, all manner of cruelty inflicted upon them by their masters and the general despair of captivity. Of course, a European slave had a higher chance of seeing his homeland again than an African slave. North Africans were more keen on ransoming their captives than Europeans and Americans in possession of African slaves. Still, lifelong captivity was the sad fate of a myriad of Europeans caught by Barbary corsairs. The tone of this book is purely scholastic. Facts and figures are prominant, but anecdotal accounts from primary sources add a human element to this work. The author does more than reveal this little known history of slavery in all its sordid detail. He delves into some historiograhpy, offering his theory on why European slavery has been downplayed in the annals. His take on this matter is a fitting conclusion to a well researched, remarkably informative book.

This book makes a very good attempt of analysing the scale and effect of Muslim slavery practised against the Europeans in the XV to XIX centuries. Although, as the author would be the first to accept, the data are culled from a variety of sources and are derived by correlating information, nevertheless it is more than enough to convince.

This is an important work as it rolls back the shutters of political correctness and gives an objective analysis of an important determinant of European history. Although Muslim slavery was relatively small compared to the wholesale transport of Africans to the New World (12 million), Davis has shown that approximately 1.25 million to 1.5 million Europeans were captured and enslaved by the Arabs and Ottomans. Most were men bound for the galleys; fewer were the women bound for the harems. Unlike the Pirates of the Caribbean whose aim was to steal treasure, Muslim piracy was targeted against people. Whole villages of Southern Europe were depopulated and trade and fishing became risky occupations.
This is a well written book and any student of Southern Europeaninternational relations would be well advised to read it.Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Early Modern History)

This book illuminates an important dynamic of history. Africans were enslaving Europeans. Europeans were enslaving Africans. Africans were selling the members of competing African tribes to Europeans for enslavement. The constant in all this is greed.

Reading this wonderful book, one cannot help to reflect on the history since then when such slave trade took place, as well as what Europe is facing today. It is important to remember the history and learn the necessary lesson from it, otherwise, we have no way to prevent the history from repeating itself. I also cannot help to wonder: why such history is not told in our schools and in our media? What is the reason that this history has become so sensitive even after 200 years since its end that our governments and our media would never want us to know?

Have our governments and our media sold their soles so that they can justify what they did to promote foreign interests that are damaging our own culture, our free society and the Western civilization in every way?

How could we allow those people who want to kill anyone who do not obey their god to come to our society? How could we allow those threathening our fundamental rights of free expression and liberty everyday living in our society with the best social welfare and benefits? How could we allow those people to build the mosques that are mushrooming our landscape where every moment the hatred to the Western culture and Christianity is taught and the worst brainwash is conducted, and all financed by our taxpayers' money? (in Germany there are more than 3,000 mosques already, more in France, all financed by the governments)How could we allow those talk to give both Islam and Christianity a equal status in the West while our own politicians are trying so hard to destroy our own religion to please those who tried for several centuries but never succeeded?

Of course, there are many immigrants who want to integrate into our society and be good citizens, but there are also people who oppose our civilization in every way, who want to kill us and destroy our society for their religion. We used to fight enemies who invade us from the outside, now thanks to our governments, we have to fight them from within. It is almost an impossible task. With the birth rate of Muslims 5 times of the Christians in the last 50 years, we are becoming minorities in our own countries faster than we have realized.

After reading the world-famous journalist, writer Oriana Fallaci's book THE FORCE OF REASON, I know the West is heading for a total self-destruction. Now with this book on an important part of Western history which has almost lost, everyone living in the West should reflect on the urgency of today and to use our rights to fight for our freedom, now or never. It is our responsibility to prevent the history from repeating itself.

Much has been written about slavery in the Americas. The injustices and misery of the Black Africans will never be forgotten. However, there is little focus on other examples of "Mans inhumanity to Man".
Dr. Robert C. Davis, Professor of History at The Ohio State University, has brought another example to light. His documentation and research is vast. He tells how pirates of the Mediterranean and the Barbary Coast captured and enslaved a million or more whites from England, Europe and the Mediterranean countries from the year 1502, and continued for the next 400 years.
The stories in this book, peppered with researched historical facts, are very interesting and easy to read. Even more interesting is how this enslavement may well have changed the history of Europe.

This book is great for those students of history who want to learn more about parts of history that are not well known by most people and not often taught in schools but that was a large part of the 1500s-early 1700s. It also puts slavery into context of the times for real students of history. White Slavery was as common as any other race's enslavement.

So much hype is given to black slavery in the Americas while the slavery of European whites is at least neglected. This book will give you a quick realization of white slavery during 1500-1800. Not discussed were enslaved whites taken from San Francisco to China during the 19th century. The news has revealed that during the past 20 years many white women from Eastern Europe have also been enslaved to the sex industry.

This book covers the subject of a terrorist jihad, in the form of slavery, that took place by non-state agents for a period of 300 years. In that sense, it is applicable to the situation the Western world finds itself in again today. Davis provides throrough documentation of his sources, so this work is a good resource for those interested in pursuing further studies on the topic of Islamic enslavement of Christians.

While the book was interesting from an historical perspective, it is one not meant for leisure reading. I commend the writer for diligence in research and recommend this as a supplimental text for the person interested in reading additional materials relating to the current conflict between Christians and Muslims.